Most humble administrator, like our revered leader, your wisdom has only become sharper with age. Emperor Wu Di now has need of your talents in the far western reaches of the Han Empire. There on the southern edge of the lonely and forbidding Taklamakan desert, he wishes to establish a trading village along the Silk Road. You can buy quantities of precious silk from such Chinese cities as Chang-an and Chengdu, and then pass it along to Kashgar for a hefty profit.

The land is harsh in the desert, and the rains unpredictable. Even the skies are dangerous, patrolled by hungry vultures. It will not be an easy task for your people to grow enough food from the barren turf. Crops of millet can be cultivated, and the arrows of hunters should be able to find targets, but you may still find it necessary to import some food for your citizens to thrive. Go now, to the village of Loulan in the Taklamakan Desert, 'the land of no return' -- but strive not to lets its ominous name come true!

This mission requires you to establish a trading outpost in the desert, though it is actually very easy to reach many of the goals if you get to them quickly. Making a profit might be difficult if you import loads of expensive items, so keeping the number of items imported from cities will reach the profit goal far quicker.

You start this mission with two trading partners already open to you: Kashgar and Chang-an. You'll notice that you can import Jade directly from Kashgar and sell them Carved Jade. As this is one of the more expensive goods and the profit to be made is high, focus on just making as much Carved Jade as you can. Keeping the amount of Jade imported to a minimium of four pieces will help to prevent you running out of debt. The price cut for Jade will only help in increasing your profits from exporting Carved Jade.

The trading partners goal is also extremely easy to reach. Send out diplomatic requests will find Jiaozhou, Chengdu and Guangzhou open trade, immediately satisfying this goal. If you are struggling to export Carved Jade to Kashgar, place trading posts for other cities which purchase the commodity or sell Salt: it is recommended to use Jiaozhou as an alternative, since you need to import Hemp from a trade partner anyway, as it cannot be grown here.

The briefing implies bartering Silk to Kashgar by importing it from other trade cities. If you keep the imports as low as possible and sell a lot of Carved Jade quickly, you shouldn't need to do this, especially as importing Silk is expensive and you will only make a tiny profit by increasing the price to Kashgar.

There are a couple of requests to the Xiongnu Empire: ignoring these requests will result in them invading and since only one fort can be placed, it is recommended to comply. The first request is for 10 Millet: this can be grown locally and should be stockpiled in a Warehouse. The second request is for Silk: this will need to be imported from a trade partner and stored in a Warehouse to be dispatched.

Once you've met the profit goal, you should have no trouble completing the mission. Just don't build too much over the grassy land: space is at a premium and this limited space should be reserved for buildings that need to be placed on the grass. Housing should extend into the non-grassy areas to avoid problems with space later. Once complete, you will have established a safeguard for the trading caravans heading to Kashgar!